- The Los Angeles Lakers fired Darvin Ham on May 3, 2024, after two seasons in charge of the team, having lost in the first round of the playoffs.
- The Lakers then made an offer to Dan Hurley, who decided to stay with the NCAA’s Connecticut Huskies, where he has won back-to-back national championships.
- The Lakers have decided to hire former NBA player and current ESPN analyst JJ Redick, who also has a podcast with Lakers’ star LeBron James.
The Los Angeles Lakers have had a tumultuous offseason, to say the least. After getting bounced by the Denver Nuggets in five games in the first round of the playoffs, they had to make a change. Head coach Darvin Ham was fired by the Lakers on May 3, 2024.
There had been many candidates reported for the job, including Los Angeles Clippers’ assistant Kenny Atkinson and New Orleans assistant James Borrego. But the Lakers decided to go in a different direction.
The Lakers have hired former NBA player and ESPN analyst JJ Redick for his first head-coaching job, which was reported by ESPN Insider Adrian Wojnarowski on Thursday, June 20.
What are Redick’s Credentials?
The Lakers made an offer to Connecticut coach Dan Hurley on June 6. However, after thinking about it for a couple of days, Hurley decided to stay at UConn, where he is going for his third straight national title.
However, if you have followed the odds at NBA betting sites, Redick has been one of the favorites, if not the favorite, since before Ham got fired. It is still a bit of a surprise that Redick won the job. He has never coached at any level, outside of coaching his young children.
Redick had a fine NBA career, averaging 12.8 points a game over 15 seasons for Orlando, Milwaukee, the Clippers, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Dallas. He was an excellent three-point shooter, hitting 41.5% from beyond the arc through his career. At Duke, he was the national Player of the Year in 2006 and a two-time All-American.
He has also shown that he does have a good basketball mind, which is how Redick stayed in the league for 15 years. His podcast, “The Old Man and the Three”, is extremely popular as Redick delves into the Xs and Os of the game with various guests.
However, his podcast with Lakers’ star LeBron James, “Mind The Game”, has gotten a ton of attention as Redick and James drink wine, and go in-depth on the intricacies of the games.
It was reported that James “had no conversation” with the Lakers’ front office on Redick’s hire. That’s very difficult to believe, though. You would also assume that James and Redick talked about this possibility when the cameras were off.
How Much Does This Affect the Lakers’ Odds and Chances?
Online betting sites haven’t seen much movement of the Lakers’ NBA championship odds since Redick’s hire. BetUS has them at +3000 to win the title. We’ll have to see how Redick’s coaching staff looks, as he should try to surround himself with experienced assistants.
The Lakers still have the NBA Draft coming up, and James still has to decide whether to opt into his $51.4 million player option. CBS Sports reports that James is expected to opt out of his deal. But that means he’s looking to sign a longer deal with the Lakers. Since James is 39, the NBA’s Over-38 rule means that he can only sign a three-year deal. However, that deal can be maxed out at $164 million.
All eyes will be on the Lakers, as they normally are. But plenty of people are interested to see how this works out with Redick.
